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July '97

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Prince al-Hassan Visits the National Information Centre

News of the Centre

• The Centre holds training sessions for high school student.
• A short training course for the Audit Bureau.
• The Centre participates in a scientific exhibition at al-Nuzha School.
• The Centre participates in the seminar organized by the Jordanian Library Association and hosted by Al Al-Bayt University.
• A memorandum of understanding with the Hashimiyyah University.
• Memorandum of understanding with the University of Mu'ta.
• The Centre participates in the first meeting of the Arab Regional Network Society (Rite Net).
• Harmonized information policies and strategies.
• Minister of Social Development meets the Society and Social Conditions Coordination Committee.

Internet Training Workshop Amman - Jordan, 13-18 September, 1997

The MENA-PeaceNet
New links to http://www.nic.gov.jo

Internet Information & Ethical & Legal Issues

Internet2 Project







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Prince al-Hassan Visits the National Information Centre

Prince al-Hassan , honorary President of the Higher Council for Science and Technology, visited the Centre on 15/04/1997. His Highness was briefed by the President of the Centre on the future plans and national policy and strategy of information. The Prince expressed his directives towards promoting information related activities with regard to the national policy and strategy of information and stressed the importance of the provision of information technology to the various sectors cross cutting the human resource dimension, the natural resources dimension and the economic dimension. He added that the policy and strategy should cover basic information needs within the framework of development at the micro level .







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News of the Centre

• In its efforts to raise and spread the awareness of the importance of information in development , research and everyday life, the Centre held several training sessions for high school students from various schools including:

• al-Bayan School
• As-Sa'adah School
• Sweileh Secondary School

Lectures tackled introductory subjects to the National Information System and the Internet service in Jordan . At the end of each session , the students were shown live navigation on the site of the Centre on the Internet at (http://www.nic.gov.jo)







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• A short training course was held at the Audit Bureau for five days from 12/04/1997-15/04/1997. A two-hour lecture daily included technical subjects on Internet technology, internetnetworking and Internet navigation.

• To spread awareness of the National Information Centre and the Internet at the micro level, the Centre participated in a scientific exhibition held by the Ministry of Education at al-Nuzha School from 5-10/04/1997. Lectures were given daily to student-onlookers on the Internet and a live navigation was shown.

• The Centre participated in the seminar that was organized by the Jordanian Library Association and hosted by Al Al-Bayt University in Mafraq. The subject of the seminar was " Cooperation among libraries in Jordan". The paper presented by the Centre emphasized the role of the Centre in cooperation and the mechanism used to fulfill this objective. The main aim of setting up the information coordination committees is to bolster cooperation in information exchange. Standards and applications are the main working processes used to implement cooperation among libraries. The Jordanian standard " The Unified Jordanian Format : a manual for the exchange of bibliographic data" has been designed to be used by libraries in their effort to computerize their bibliographic data basis and to exchange bibliographic information with other libraries on-line. The paper also focused on the National Information System and the effectiveness of Internet technology in facilitating cooperation among libraries.

• A memorandum of understanding was signed by the Centre and the Hashimiyyah University regarding Internet connection. The University will be connected to the Internet directly with the main node from the Centre. Communication will be through a leased line with 64 kbs and will be expanded as the need arises.

• Another memorandum of understanding was signed with the University of Mu'ta and the Centre, whereby the University will be connected to the Internet via the Centre by a leased line with 28.8 kbs. Expansion of the bandwidth will be induced as the need arises.

• The National Information Centre participated in the first meeting of the Arab Regional Network Society (Rite Net) that was held in Tunisia during the period 4/5-8/5/1997. Coinciding with the meeting, a conference on the Arab world and the information society was held. Participants included heads of various national information institutions who attended the meeting. The National Information Centre is one of the Arab institutions that established the Rite Net in 1996. Jordan was a member in the preparatory committee that prepared the first meeting of the General Assembly of the Rite Net.

In the recent meeting, the members discussed the activities and functions performed by the network during the past year. In addition, discussions touched on the basic system of the network and the future principal activities of the Arab Regional Network Society for the next two years. The main objective is to expand the base of participation in the network and prepare relevant projects and implement them on the regional level. The Society also discussed the on-going work of the infrastructure, of employing different channels in networking and the importance of access to the Arab data bases.

The National Information Centre was elected as a member in the first executive committee of the network.







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• In its effort to develop a set of harmonized information policies and strategies that can be applied to the evasive nature of information, the National Information Centre is continuing the study for formulating strategies and policies for the National Information System. This time, the study will deal with the third dimension of information that was not tackled in the first study, and that is the natural resources. The first study stressed the information needs of the human resources dimension and the economic dimension.

• On 19/06/1997 the Minister of Social Development met the Society and Social Conditions Coordination Committee headed by the President of the Centre. Dr. Nusseir, President of the Centre, explained the nature of the committee's work in coordinating social information in a cross-cutting manner in the public and private sectors. He also clarified the role of the focal point in the national information system and its responsibilities. The President informed the Minister that the Committee has chosen the Ministry of Social Development to be the focal point of the Society and Social Conditions subnetwork in the National Information System. The Minister of Social Development thanked the members of the Committee for their choice and their efforts in dealing with the evasive nature of information. He added that coordination would reflect positively on the community sector and will help the decision maker to access information easily.

Internet Training Workshop
Amman - Jordan,
13-18 September, 1997

The Internet Society (ISOC) Middle East - North Africa Internet Training Workshop will be held in Amman, Jordan, in the Royal Scientific Society at the Computer, Technology Training and Industrial Studies Centre. The aim of this workshop is to train a critical mass of trainer/professionals in network infrastructure, transport and services to be able to support an extension of meaningful Internet-related activities within the countries represented, to identify and share individual and institutional contacts and information sources that will assist the process of national development, using international Internet connections and to build professional linkages between all participants in the programs so that the relationships will remain strong and of continuing usefulness.

All participants will engage in extensive hands-on training, such as setting up a prototype network or using and developing Internet information services, as appropriate, using facilities at the National Information Centre, Jordan.

For information concerning application :

get-Amman-workshop-application@isoc.org

Specific questions regarding the *local* arrangements for the workshop may be directed electronically to:

workshop-info@nic.gov.jo or by post to:

Internet Society Middle East - Africa Workshop

National Information Centre

P.O.Box (259) Jubaiha

Amman 11941

Jordan

Tel: +962 6 837 184

Fax: +962 6 837 168

Other enquiries about the workshop may be directed electronically to:

Amman-workshop-info@isoc.org.








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The MENA-PeaceNet

NIC is participating in implementing a project for the development of an interactive information exchange network, the MENA-PeaceNet. The project is designed to provide up-to-date information on conducting business in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as well as between MENA and the US. The PeaceNet creates a network of organizations to share information needed for business, marketing and partnering opportunities. The network includes standards, customs, environmental regulation and educational communities. It promotes businesses and markets in the US and in the MENA region. A country focus was held in Amman in the beginning of May, in the Centre to identify partners and their resources. Data quality protocols and database population approaches were discussed.

The address of the site on the Internet is :

http://MENA-PeaceNet.nist.gov









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New links to http://www.nic.gov.jo

The following sites have been linked to our web page and they are hosted by the server of NIC:

• A web page for Her Majesty Queen Noor. It includes a resume of the Queen, a picture album, speeches, press releases among other subjects.
• A web page for the Arab Potash Company under the Natural Resources Sector.

The list also includes the web pages of the following organizations:

• Al Al-Bayt University
• Amman Chamber of Industry
• Public Intelligence Department
• El Hassan Bin Talal Award
• Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation
• Jordanian National Committee for Women
• Royal Geographic Centre
• Islamic Network for the Management and Development of Water Resources

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Internet Information & Ethical & Legal Issues

The ethical and legal issues that emanated from the Internet are numerous and need solutions to facilitate and clarify the way we deal with information on the Internet before the onset of the twentieth century. Of these issues:

Copyright law: Copyright law now has to cope with digitized publishing. Easy access to digital information, is a great threat to the traditional copyright law.

Electronic commerce: As electronic trading has evolved into a very attractive method in conducting business transaction on the Internet, the law that regulate traditional methods of conducting business is still undefined and inconsistent with electronic commerce. Over and above all, issues like contracting, liability and confidential information that relate to electronic commerce, have not been addressed yet.

Domain Names and Trade Marks: Abuse and conflict that engulf the use of domain names and trade marks has to be tackled to ensure rights and proprietorship.

Pornography and Children Safety: The democratic environment that encompasses the Internet has produced controversial issues as to whether allow or not allow publishing of offensive material such as pornography. No consideration is given to the vulnerability of children against readily available offensive subjects. Parents and guardians of children's rights and well-being have been confronted with protectors of democracy on the Internet. Censorship is still not popular on the Internet and the need to protect children have been put in the limelight.

In Jordan, we need to act quickly and modify our laws. Finding solutions to these legal and ethical concerns should be put on our agenda before we are taken by surprise.










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Internet2 Project

Since its evolution, the Internet has been growing fast. Millions of people have subscribed to it Internet has become so popular that congestion in communication lines has been delaying communication immensely. Users are complaining about delays. People who suffer most of all are people who come from the world of academia. Together with the federal government and the private sector and R&D firms, universities in the U.S. are developing a new next generation Internet for research and education including quality network services and multimedia applications to enhance those services. The aim of Internet 2 is to " facilitate and coordinate the development, deployment, operation and technology transfer of advanced network-based applications and network services to further U.S. leadership in research and higher education and accelerate the availability of new services and applications on the Internet". In practical terms, Internet2 is about the following:

• maintaining a common bearer service to support new applications
• moving from best effort packet delivery to a differentiated communications service ( GigaPOP high capacity)
• achieving an advanced communications infrastructure for the research and education sector.

The implications of Internet 2 on teaching, learning, collaboration and research activity is tremendous. The new technology would enable students to participate in virtual reality lectures. It would enable them to perform laboratory tests in virtual reality.

Internet 2 is not only confined to the academic sector. The commercial sector is involved too and has been supporting the project along with universities. A 2.4 Gigabit (OC-48, or billion bits per second) network linking educational, commercial and government institution in North Carolina is now installed and operational .








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